When Adam Sandlersigned a disruptive deal to produce and star in a string of comedies that would appear exclusively on Netflix, it was greeted with some skepticism. They are feeling pretty good about it at Netflix. As part of Netflix’s keynote address at CES, COO Ted Sarandos mentioned that the first film in the deal, the Sandler-starrer The Ridiculous 6, has been the most-watched movie on the platform in its first 30 days of availability. It has also been No. 1 in every territory Netflix is currently operating in, and still holds the top spot in most. This despite the fact that movie has been routed by critics.

This comes after Sarandos told Deadline last fall that Beasts Of No Nation was viewed by 3 million subscribers in its first two weeks of release and also opened as the top-watched film in every country Netflix operated in. Now, Beasts was platformed theatrically and got an awards-season spend, while Sandler’s movies are running strictly on the streaming service. Both are proving to be intriguing alternatives to the traditional moviemaking model that is risky and requires a significant P&A spend.